Certain known cable transportation systems comprise two turnaround stations, between which extends at least one haul cable. The turnaround stations each comprise a supporting structure; a pulley that rotates about an axis with respect to the supporting structure; and a drive member connected to the pulley by a transmission.
The turnaround station pulleys are of considerable size—roughly 4 to 6 meters in diameter—and therefore difficult to transport. So each pulley is normally divided into easy-to-transport sectors.
For example, European Patent document no. EP1584845 describes a pulley comprising a polygonal hub that rotates about an axis; and a plurality of sectors, each with three coupling faces. One coupling face is coupled to the hub, and the other two are coupled to the adjacent sectors and extend radially with respect to the hub rotation axis.
Solutions of this type, however, call for a high degree of precision in fabricating the sectors. Any machining errors may seriously compromise connection of the sectors to the hub and so make the pulley difficult to assemble. Very often, machining errors must be corrected on site, or even call for replacing the sector, with certain drawbacks in terms of cost.